


Family Matters

by StoriesInMyHead_StoriesOnThePage



Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21875218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriesInMyHead_StoriesOnThePage/pseuds/StoriesInMyHead_StoriesOnThePage
Summary: Things at the Whitechapel station were back on course, it had been a few months since the tragic case of the Bogeyman but DI Chandler was sure that for now at least his team was back on track to being the best they had been. That is until Ed turns around to announce he's retiring, but not to worry he has the perfect replacement. Miles is just hoping its no one crazy.
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter One

**Family Matters**

Chapter One

“Retire?” 

The word almost sounded unnatural as it came out of Miles’s mouth, Joe saw the very obvious look of confusion on the older mans face, it was the same look he too had made all but an hour ago. 

“Well he didn't exactly say the word retire Miles, it’s more like he’s taking time off.” He watched from his position behind his desk as Miles started to lightly pace up and down in front of door of his office. The blinds were only just slightly ajar so that Joe could make out the arrival of the rest of the team, tilting his head to check the clock hanging on the wall he saw that it indeed was 9am. Joe looked back to Miles who had now stopped moving, he really didn't expect this kind of reaction form the Sergeant. 

“Hang on so your meaning to tell me, that Mr “ _I am a Detective, in my heart in my soul_!” Joe made a mental note to remind Miles later to never to quit his day job going from that awful impression, “Has now decided to pack it all in? Look I know sometimes he can be a bit of a bumbling idiot and I know that at first we didn't exactly see eye to eye, but if there was one thing I was sure on, in fact that I would have put money on, was that Kent would have long retired before Buchan even considered it! He’s spent what, the last five years building that bloody archive and now what? Are we just going to leave it down there to collect dust?” All Joe was able to do was nod along to Mile’s rant, it was funny to see this side of his Sargent. 

“I know Miles, trust me I was as shocked as you seem to be…” Joe sensed the glare he was getting from his DS and decided to carry on before he would eventually be interrupted, “But before you start making a scene you might want to know that it’s not going to be a situation where he’s here one minuet then gone the next.” He paused allowing to Miles to take a seat, he didn't miss the obvious grunt from the older man as he made himself comfortable. “Apparently his mothers health is taking a turn for the worst and he’s needed a lot more at home to tend to her.” Both Joe and Miles had only met Buchan’s mother once, back when the Ripperologist was under suspicion in the Ripper case all those years ago, she was a kind lady. Ed wasn't one to talk abut his home life but when his mother started to get ill Ed did confide in Joe about his concerns, it was a surprising conversation that Joe was unprepared for. He was confused why Ed would come to him of all people to confide in, why not Riley she was better at the personal stuff more than he was, but he sympathised. Losing a parent under any circumstance was never easy. 

“He came in earlier to make me aware of the situation, his plan is to stay on part time until the end of the year then he will go. He seemed to have it all planned.” 

“Well then, that at least five more months with him then. What about after that though, is there a plan to get someone else in or is that it for the archive?” Though he hated to admit it, Ray did find the archive useful which in turn made Buchan useful. Did he completely question the idea when Joe originally presented it to him at Mansell’s last wedding? Absolutely. Did he think for a second that his DI had possibly had one too many G&T’s? Yes, but then again looking back at all the cases they had dealt with since that night, he had to admit they probably wouldn’t have gotten to the results they had gotten if not for Buchan’s historical insight. 

“Ed’s already seems to have thought of that ,he wants us to meet him for a drink after our shift today to meet with a possibly replacement.” Joe, started to rise from his chair heading over to the door of his office, it was now well into the start of the morning shift and he hadn't even checked in with his team, Ray turned in his chair only to give Joe a pessimistic look,

“Oh God, if its someone Buchan has recommended we better get ready for another nutcase. How come he was in so early anyway?”

“He had to take his mother for an appointment, so he came in to tell me that what was going on. He wont be back today but said he would still be able to meet us later.” 

“You’ve got to feel just a bit sorry for him though, finally gets to do what he’s always wanted and now he has to give it up.” 

“He’s not giving up, just just prioritising family over his own selfish desires. I thought you of all people would had admired him for that.” And with that Joe opened the door and entered the main room of the station. Miles watched on from his seat as the DI went from desk to desk checking in on his team make sure they were on top of the paperwork, ever since the Bogeyman case all those months ago Joe had been more than a little distracted. He had been more formal and direct with the team and while the they took the bulk of it they knew that it was nothing personal, it was just his way to channelling out his emotions and finding away to regain his control without resorting to his usual method of self medicating. Joe had just finished checking in with Mansell at his desk before heading out of the room, Ray assumed the destination was the mens bathroom. 

Ray stood up and slowly returned to his desk, from there he had a good view of the investigation room and his team. He could see Riley stood over by the kettle, waiting for the water to boil, every morning she would always make the first round for everyone without fail. It was small things like that as well as her constantly nagging and scolding both Mansell and Kent that made Miles almost consider having favourites. Speaking of Mansell and Kent they were both sat at their appointed desks, their heads down and the sound of keys being typed could be heard, one of them was actually doing their work and it didn't take a genius to know which one. Mansell kept glaring back towards his phone, poor girl Miles thought, divorced only a few months and already he was back on the prowl. Same couldn't be said for Kent, whose phone was more than likely tucked away either in his desk drawer on in his coat pocket hanging up along with the rest of the teams. Miles had known the young DC for far longer than the rest team, definitely long before Chandler was assigned to them as their new DI. All that time he had never known the lad to even mention anything about his life outside the station. Miles knew that he had a sister, twin in fact, he’d met her once years ago, apart from that the team didn't know that much else. By the time Miles had logged onto his computer and opened up his emails Riley had gone around the room placing a cup of tea on everyone's desk, 

“Thanks Meg love, how’s things at home, good weekend?”

“No problem Skip, things are fine, kids were round friends most of the weekend so I had some time to myself which was a blessing and a half.”

“Finally got to do the hoovering?”

“Both up and downstairs…. heaven.” 

“I wasn't as lucky, little one’s been restless so lets just say no one was able to relax at all for the entire weekend. Plus Liam seems to think he’s catching a bug and cant go into school today, I’ve heard better excuses from Mansell to get off doing work.” Riley chuckled but before she could answer the phone on Miles desk rang, leaving him with a sympathetic smile Riley returned to her desk and Miles proceeded to answer the call. No rest of the wicked he thought as he took notes down while listening to the person on the other end of the phone. As the call was drawing to an end Chandler re-entered the room this time with a handful of letters in his hands, he’d clearly not gone to the bathroom as Miles had previously assumed. Noticing his Sargent clearing taking details down for today’s case, Joe headed towards his office to fetch his coat and the keys to his car. Miles was pulling on his coat as Joe closed his office door, the two men walked in sync with each other as they headed out the station, 

“Thought you headed over to the mens?”

“Whatever made you think that?” His voice was blunt and lacked any kind of emotion,

“Nothing, just you know with the news of Buchan, a possible new replacement, I just thought you might be bit worried about the changes that are due.”

“He’s taking an extended leave Miles, he’s not dead.”

“Yeah well speaking of,” Miles quickly turned to the three team members that somehow hadn't realised they were being called out, “Come on you lot were not being paid to do bugger all, Kent follow us in the car its an awkward location, wont be found on GPS.”

“Yes Skip.” Spoke the voice of Emerson Kent for the first time that day, and with that the five of them quickly left the station and set out for what would end up being a long and boring shift.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two 

When it reached 5.30 pm signaling the end of the shift the entire team was ecstatic, the day had been long and uneventful. Turns out the call earlier that morning was just a simple domestic that was easily wrapped up in under two hours. The rest of the day had dragged on and it took a toll on the team. Chandler noticed a few of his team were constantly checking the time on their phones or re-reading paperwork they had already read, he couldn't blame them they hadn't had an interesting case in months, not since…Suddenly feeling very overwhelmed Chandler reached across his desk for his jar of Tiger Balm, closing his eyes he massaged the balm into his temples and allowed the motion to calm him down. Reopening his eyes he could see the team disappearing one by one, in the usual order. 

Riley would be the first to leave, she would have a quick once over at her desk making sure her computer was logged off then say her goodbyes. She would always be first to go as there would always be an after school club or school play rehearsal her children would need to be picked up from. She would always say goodbye to people in her cheery manner, there was not one day where she had just disappeared. Mansell would be next, he didn't have the same mindset as Riley when leaving the office as he wouldn’t give his desk a second once-over whatsoever, at least he never left his computer on overnight. He would hang around for at about five/ten minutes having a laugh and a chat with some other officers still left in the office and would then slowly let himself out, on the odd occasion announcing that he had a date that night. That then left Kent. Kent was always last to leave, he would always be finishing off some work or completing paperwork by the time Riley was heading out. Once the DC would get around to closing down his own computer Mansell was already well out of the office, Kent never needed to check his own desk as it was always spotless, so instead he would go over to Mansell’s. Removing empty crisp packets and wrappers off the desk as well as making sure his paperwork looked a little neater. Once done with that he would head off making sure to grab his helmet from his lower desk drawer before saying his goodbyes. 

Every day like clockwork Chandler would see this pattern, little things that kept him sane, his team was reliable. He knew that he had been extra harsh on them lately and he did feel guilty, he would have to find a way to make it up to them soon, in his own way. Chandler stood from his own desk and headed towards the doorway of his office checking his phone for the time _17:55_ he sighed and looked over to the main entrance of the investigation room to see Miles speaking briefly with Kent, who had caught him before leaving, the conversation didn't last long as soon enough Miles was walking towards Joe with a small smirk on his face. 

“Just told the lad to leave Mansell’s desk like it is, teach the sod a lesson when he comes in tomorrow, you’ll be okay about that yeah?” 

“No, I mean yes of course, can we just make sure its all cleared by tomorrow morning.” It was a statement that was directed to both Miles and Kent who was still stood by the front entrance putting on his coat, “Thank you Kent, we’ll see you tomorrow, drive safe.” 

“I will Sir.” And with that Kent left the room, Chandler he noticed the helmet in his hands before leaving and let out a small chuckled sigh, after all these years the DC still had that little yellow Vesper. Miles turned back towards Chandler now that the office was empty, on any other day he would have left around the same time as Mansell but of course tonight they had other plans.

“Right so what's happening then, has Buchan told you where we’re going?” Reaching into his coat pocket Chandler brought out his phone to double-check the text message he had received from Buchan a few hours earlier:

_Joe,_

_Tonight 6.30 pm at the Rose & Crown. It’s quiz night so make sure your minds are on top form! The subject this week is Crime Throughout the Years, with the four of us there is no doubt in my mind that we shall succeed as the champions._

_Ed_

Miles read the message over Joe’s shoulder at scoffed, “Rose and Crown? Yeah, that's easy enough to get to, plus free parking. Shall we head off then?” 

When they arrived at the Rose & Crown Ed was already there, he had reserved a table in the corner for them and he was waving vigorously at them. 

“Ah hello there! Grab a seat we are almost ready to begin. I hope you are ready for tonight these questions can be quite tough but I'm sure with fine minds like your's gentleman we shall be the winning team!” Both men glanced at each other a smirk on Miles’s face and a look of confusion on Chandler’s.

“Nice to see you too Buchan, I see you got the round in,” Miles noted the pint of bitter Ed was now pushing in his direction and the G&T he was also pushing in Joe’s. 

“Yes, well that wasn't me. That is a gesture of goodwill from our fourth team member…”

“Yeah about this so-called replacement, if you've got one of your wacky Ripperologist mates lined up to take over-”

“Miles.” Joe cut the older man off before a scene could be made

“No Joe it's okay, I know that it was clearly a bit of a shock for you that I would be leaving our merry band of brotherhood, but worry not for you shall be left in the capable hands of my niece.”

“Your niece?”

“Band of Brotherhood!?”

“Yes Joe, my niece,” Ed carried on, ignoring Miles outburst, “She has recently come back from her travels around America and is well versed in the subject of research and of course like her Uncle is a huge fan of the history of crime and punishment. I trust her completely with the archive and believe she will get on quite splendidly with the rest of the team.” 

Joe sat back in his chair more baffled than ever, for all the years he had known Ed since the Ripper case he had never known the man to mention a niece, let alone a brother or sister. He clearly didn't know his team as well as he thought he did. For some reason that bothered him.

“Great another Buchan to deal with, I’m guessing she's just as _enthusiastic_ as you are?” Miles chuckled taking a swig from his drink, “Where is she then, I see a drink for the lass but not her.” 

“Oh, she is just over at the bar fetching our team papers for the quiz, here she comes.” Both Chandler and Miles turned in their chairs to see a young lady walk over to their table. She was dressed in a black band t-shirt that was tucked into a pair of belted ripped denim jeans, Joe had no knowledge of the band logo printed on the t-shirt she was wearing ‘ _Colour of Bone_ ’. Once the girl had reached their table she passed the sheets of paper that she had just collected over to Ed who in return gave her a toothy grin and signaled for her to sit down. 

“Now then, as we are now all present, some introductions are clearly in order. DI Joseph Chandler, DS Ray Miles this is my niece Kenna Buchan.” Kenna who had only just sat down extended her arm towards the two men, Miles immediately met her in the middle to shake her hand and Joe followed suit, 

“Hi, it’s lovely to finally meet you I’ve heard so much about you guys from Uncle Ed.” Joe was relieved, she was polite, professional and Miles clearly didn't have an issue with her judging by the smile on his face. 

“Thank you, Kenna-“

“Please call me Ken.”

“Ken, well yes thank you for our drinks lass it was very kind of you.” 

Joe observed the young girl who was now sat opposite him as Miles thanked her, he knew that by the end of the night he would have made a decision on whether this would be the newest addition to their team. All that was needed to know now was, how good of a team player she was, Joe didn't question Ed on her knowledge or intelligence he just wanted to see if she was going to fit into their already well establish team without fuss. Before anyone else could say anything the voice of the quizmaster could be heard from the small stage at the back of the pub. 

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to the Rose & Crown’s weekly mastermind quiz. This week's topic as chosen by you is ‘Crime and Punishment: Throughout the years.’ Now if you can get your pens and paper ready and have remembered to put your team name on the top we shall begin in a few minutes.”

“Well Ken, I hope you are as good as your Uncle clearly thinks you are as I have a feeling I’m not gonna be much help.” Miles chuckled as he watched Ed take the pen in front of him and started writing down a team name for them.

“No pressure then!” Kenna responded taking a sip from her own drink, Joe smiled watching Kenna pull her long hair back into a ponytail tonight was definitely going to be interesting, once again the voice of the quizmaster interrupted the table.

“Okay question 1: In 1922 on March 31st, 6 residents of the Hinterkaifeck Farm in Bavaria Germany were brutally murdered. What was the murder weapon?”

“What kind of question is that!” Miles whispered as he watched the teams in the pub writing down their answers, he turned to face his own team members only to have them all say almost in unison the same answer.

“Pickaxe.” 

Ray leaned back in his chair drink in hand a proud smile on his, they were so going to win this week.


	3. Chapter Three

**Family Matters**

Chapter Three

“I like her.”

Miles sat at the table with a proud grin on his face a small golden trophy placed next to his pint of bitter. The quiz was well and truly over and their group of four had won by a landslide, Kenna and Ed answered the majority of the questions with Joe beating them on serval occasions. It was Miles however who had dominated the picture round. Ed and Kenna were currently at the bar getting in the round which allowed Joe and Miles to give their opinion on Kenna. 

“She does indeed know her history, although I wasn't worried about.”

“Of course you weren't worried, she's a Buchan! Anyway, I reckon we give the lass a trial run, let her come in and get to know the team, you said it yourself Buchan will be on part-time until the new year so we don't have to make a final decision right away.” Joe nodded to Miles's suggestion, a trial didn't sound so bad, he glanced over to the bar and watched as Kenna laughed along to whatever story Ed seemed to be telling. 

“I suppose, we would need to make the team aware of the change though I don’t know how much Ed will want to say. So let just see what his plans are.” Joe kept his focus on the two Buchan’s as they carried the drinks over to the table, he quickly glanced at Miles who in return gave him a nod. Before Miles could give his own opinion on the matter the Uncle and Niece pairing had returned from the bar, drinks in hand.

“Here we are, now I do say we raise a toast, to our victory!” Ed flamboyantly exclaimed raising his own glass, Kenna gave the two men sat opposite her an apologetic yet amused smile and raised her glass not as high as her Uncle’s only to take an extremely quick chug out of the drink. Joe chuckled, he and the rest of the team had only been exposed to Ed’s expressions of ‘passionate’ emotion in the workplace for the last five years, Kenna was clearly far too used to them. 

“I'm not surprised we won. I mean if two police detectives and a police researcher somehow managed to come in last place in a quiz centered around crime I would be seriously reconsidering my life choices, but yeah cheers.” Kenna quipped, placing her beer back down on the table giving the now laughing Miles a quick wink. 

“You will fit right in with us my girl.” Miles glanced over to Chandler, he knew he may have spoken too soon in regards to hiring the girl but judging by the smirk on Joe’s own face he knew that he agreed with him on the matter. Both men, however, didn't see the look of uncertainty on Kenna's face. 

“Speaking of the team,” Joe looked over to Ed who had been watching the exchange with a small look of pride on his face, “When are you planning on telling the others? You know Riley will be sad to see you go.”

“My plan is to simply continue on as nothing is different, I do not want there to be a looming presence of sadness among the station. But it is not like I shall be gone forever I will still make the occasional visit.” Miles attempted to cover his amused grunt by taking a sip from his bitter, though Kenna caught it and smirked. 

Before anyone could say anything else a mobile text alert was heard, Ed reached into his pocket and began to read the message he had received. 

“I need to go, I’m - needed. You don't mind do you?” Joe observed that Ed look uncomfortable, he almost looked scared but he didn't say anything, after all, he was unaware of how much Kenna knew of her grandmother's situation. 

“No of course Ed if you need to get going we understand.”

“Is everything alright?” Kenna asked quietly,

“Yes, yes everything is quite well Ken dear, I just, I didn't realise the time. Well then gentleman, I must bid you adieu for the evening but I will see you in the morning bright and early. Please text me when you are back at your flat Ken, you know how mother and I worry.” 

“You know I'm 27, you don't have to constantly worry about me all the time,” Kenna whined, shaking of Ed’s attempt to tussle her hair. 

“See ya Buchan, cheers for invite tonight, it was surprisingly enjoyable.” Miles raised his glass nodding towards Ed as he proceeded to pull on his coat and scarf. After saying his goodbyes, Ed left the Rose & Crown leaving the three final members of the table in comfortable silence. 

“I know sometimes my Uncle is a little - for the use of a better word whacky, but I do want to say thank you, for at least allowing him to entertain the idea of me joining him in the archive.” 

This sudden statement from the young lady confused both Joe and Miles, Joe hadn't realised until now but with the way they were now sat at the table, it looked like the two men were in an interrogation room or an interview. 

“What do you mean to entertain the idea of you joining?” 

“It’s nothing against you or the job itself, I just - I don’t want to be seen as cheating the system, I don’t want you to be accused of nepotism that's all. I don't think that's fair on any other candidates that are possibly in line for the position.” 

“Kenna love, believe it or not, you are our only candidate! Hell, I didn't even know about your Uncle’s plan to ‘semi-retire’ until this one here told me this morning.” Miles pointed over to Joe who was watching Kenna with sympathetic eyes, “And honestly after watching you kick ass in that quiz I can clearly see that you have the knowledge and passion for the work, both qualities I’d expect from being a member of the Buchan clan.” This clearly gave Kenna a confidence boost as the smile she now wore was bigger than the two men had seen that night from her, although Joe could still see the debate that was unmistakably going on in her head, Miles urged Joe to say something with his eyes, Joe nodded and leaned forward in his chair catching Kenna’s gaze.

“We would be fools to not at least have you come and work alongside your Uncle, that is until he leaves officially in the new year. From there would do an evaluation and make an official decision in January. So if you are willing to accept we would love you to start next week, this will allow you time to prepare and get all the required paperwork together.” 

“And give us enough time to make sure certain members of our team get their manners in check as well as clean up a little,” Miles added making sure the statement came across jokingly to both adults at the table. It seemed to work as Kenna allowed a quick chuckle to leave her lips before straightening up in her chair, 

“Thank you, honestly I am extremely grateful and I will do my best. I presume there is a work dress code unless of course you are just a fan of fine suits.” Joe knew that she was joking, but he was suddenly reminded that he still had his suit blazer on. At some point in the evening, Miles had discarded his coat and jacket whilst Joe has spent the entire evening in his ‘battle armor’ as he liked to think it gave him a sense of security. 

“You are right, in both presumptions to be precise though technically as your role won't be interacting with members of the public, I am more than happy to accept a smart yet casual approach to attire. But please remember that you will also be interacting with the other members of the investigation team such as myself and Miles daily.” 

“Just no jeans, one of our lads made that mistake one time trust me you don't want to make the same one. I would also invest in a good tie, always handy to have in the desk drawer.” Joe annoyingly glared at Miles but smiled as Miles returned the glare with an oblivious look of his own.

“Noted.” Kenna nodded taking in the small interactions of her new employers, judging by their comfortable body language it was clear that the two men had a long history of working together and it showed. It was little things such as the DI allowing the DS to make little jabs at him, to interrupt him even though the result of the conversation would inevitably be the same. The comfortable silences between the quiz rounds earlier in the evening as well as the multiple expressions made between the two detectives, as if they were having a full-blown conversation telepathically. 

“Is there anything else I should know before next Monday, I can always ask my Uncle for directions to the station and about parking etc.” 

“For now no, if there is anything during this week we shall contact you by email or by text so I shall need to take some details from you. Next week will just be a matter of settling you in slowly, introducing you to the rest of the team and getting you comfortable with the archive itself, over the past few years it has grown to quite a large collection.” 

“If my Uncle Ed’s ramblings are anything to go on, I have a feeling I may already know the entire floor plan of the place.” Miles who had currently finished his pint mumbled something along the lines of “Of course he rambles about it.” He placed the empty glass next to the other empty glasses that had been discarded earlier that evening. 

“Well looks like we're going to have two Buchan’s among us now. You can choose between Buchan Jr, Buchan the 2nd or if you would like to come up with your own nickname for me to call you by I will more than grateful!” 

“I will be fine with just Ken.” Ken giggled, “You are right though, looks like the archive is becoming a family orientated department.” Straightening in his own chair Joe reached over the table offering his over to Kenna, 

“Well in that case then, Kenna Buchan welcome to the team.” 


	4. Chapter Four

Family Matters

Chapter Four

The following week seemed to drag on longer than Joe would have liked, it didn't help that there were no interesting cases to concentrate on. He knew that it was an awful wish to have a more interesting case such as a murder but, if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't just wishing it for himself. Throughout the entire week he could see that his team was indeed bored, Mansell wasn't even attempting to hide the fact he was on his phone anymore, Joe had scolded him the first two days but after the third day, Joe decided not to fight it. Riley as well was no longer concealing the fact that she too was on her phone more and more as the week went on, she was also heading down into the archive to visit Ed more often than normal. Miles was also making unusually more trips down to visit Ed, although technically Joe had asked the man to do this for him. Since Ed had spoken to him about his mother’s declining health Joe had noticed that Ed had become more reserved, he tended to stay distant to the rest of the team only venturing out of the archives for tea breaks and the occasional meeting with Joe and Miles. At the beginning of the week, Ed had made it clear to both men that he would rather not mention his plan of ‘semi-retiring’ as Miles had now officially labeled it to the team until the time came at the end of the year. When the question of how to explain why Kenna was suddenly hired was put forward, Ed simply said that the simple explanation would be that the archive was growing too rapidly and he needed an extra pair of hands. This technically was not a lie as the archives were constantly growing, as Ed had decided he wanted to extend out to create an international section, the archives were becoming difficult to navigate with all the boxes still yet to be opened. Both Joe and Miles had not spoken out against Ed’s wishes in regard to what he did or in this case, did not want to tell the team, however, Miles did make the odd remark that the longer he left it, the more he may regret it.

An eery sense of déjà vu suddenly flooded Joe’s thoughts as he looked out to the main floor of the investigation room from his office. The looks of boredom from the many faces of his team, the frustration he himself felt, it was like he was back in the moments before the body of Lennie Cobb was called in. Joe quickly shook that feeling off, there were only a few cases that Joe would forever be haunted by, and the Kray case was one of them. He looked over to Kent’s empty desk and hung his head, he still felt guilty for what happened to his DC both in and out of the station. He felt guilty for letting him go out on his own to investigate the gangsters in which left him vulnerable to that horrific attack, he also felt guilty for assuming he was the mole in their team without proper investigation. However, he soon learned after a few months after the case was officially over that both he and Miles shared that same guilt. Allowing his eyes to drift from the DC’s empty desk to the clock he noticed that it was 4.30 pm, he immediately began to rise from his desk to find Miles. Ed had come to them the day before to mention that he intended to bring Kenna in to show her around the station so that she would know where she was going when she started Monday morning. Joe put forward the idea that if she due to come to the station anyway Ed might as well introduce her to the team and let them know of the new workings of the archives. Walking out of his office Joe looked around to find his sergeant and he soon caught sight of him at Riley’s desk, placing a hand on his arm to catch his attention Miles quickly finished his conversation with Riley and turned to face Joe.

“Where are Mansell and Kent? Ed’s due to be here with Kenna soon and it would be easier if everyone was here when they arrived.”

“Mansell’s just popped out to the men's' and Kent’s on the Starbucks run which by the way we’ve made sure to grab you a green tea.” As soon as the words left his lips Mansell waltzed into the room still tucking his shirt into his trousers, Miles shook his head and let his eyes wander over at the clock, though Ed did not state a specific time he did say that he wanted to bring Kenna in before they were due to finish for the day. “Riley love what time did Kent head out for the drinks?” Riley who had kept her head down until this point looked up to face her two superior officers and shrugged,

“I don’t know maybe ten minutes ago, it’s only around the corner so he’s probably due back in a few minutes.”

“Right okay, I don’t want anyone leaving this room until both Ed and Kent get back there’s something to be discussed and we need everyone here got it?” Miles directed this statement, not just to Riley who responded with a small and slightly confusing nod, but also to Mansell who’s head shot up from his phone he looked like a rabbit caught in headlights, he also began to nod as well as giving Joe an apologetic look for being on his phone. Joe sighed yet again he felt guilty for it but he really wished that they would soon have more to do than just paperwork. At that moment the doors to the investigation room opened again and Ed appeared holding the door for a young lady that was only known to Joe and Miles.

“Here is where the ‘magic’ happens if you like, technically I’m not up here as often but I do like to - Joe!” Ed walked over placing his umbrella in his non-dominate hand whilst extending his other arm to shake the DI’s hand, "Lovely to see you, I hope we've arrived at a decent time.”

“You're fine Ed we're only missing Kent at the moment but he’s due back any minute.” Joe looked over to the door where Kenna had yet to move from and gave her a small smile, nodding his head to say hello.

“Well then, if it is just one we are waiting for we can always wait or if you would like us to come back in a few -”

“No it's fine let's just get this started and we can update the lad when he's back, this has been dragged out too long anyway.” interrupted Miles who had also silently greeted both Ed and Kenna, he noticed the confused faces of both Riley and Mansell who were now standing side by side at Riley’s desk watching on, Riley was more focused on the young woman who still had not left her position at the door. Riley could tell that the girl was around her late-twenties possibly the same age as Kent, she could also see in the girl's eyes that she was nervous, that and the fact that she hadn't stopped playing with the material on her jacket sleeve. Riley wanted to reach out to the girl, to let her know she didn't have to stay where she was, but before she could speak out-

“Oh god! Sorry, is it possible to get in please its just-” a struggling Kent balancing five drinks and a bag of pastries attempted to walk into the station however as Kenna was by the door he was stopped in his tracks. Kenna who was quite taken back at the sudden movement behind her sprung into action, stepping aside holding back the door to allow Kent to fully enter the room. Kent soon realised that all eyes were now on him and wasn't quite sure what do or say at this point so he just wandered over to where Mansell and Riley were standing, Mansell reached over to help him with the drinks in his hands.

“Kent, glad your back lad, took your time. Right everyone, get yourselves comfy, I have a feeling we're not going to be doing anything for a while, Riley love pass over the green tea for the boss and mine would you.” The next few moments consisted of handing over drinks and snacks being passed around to the correct people as well as the three DC’s settling down at Riley’s desk, Riley in her own chair, Mansell who had perched on the edge of the desk, Kent stood beside Mansell.

Joe who had gladly accepted his drink stood and watched his team settle, he noticed Kenna still stood at the doors of the office, he like Riley also noticed that she had not stopped tugging on her sleeves. Ed had also noticed his niece's absence and beckoned her to join him next to Miles with his hand, Kenna started to move over to her Uncle, catching the glance of the DC who she had accidentally blocked from entering the room, she gave the man a quick smile before continuing to walk across the station floor to join her Uncle who was stood next to Miles. What she failed to notice was that Kent had returned her small smile she just didn't see it. Mansell did however and he smirked.

“Ah, well then, should we just-?” Ed motioned towards Joe and Miles as though he was asking for permission to speak, Joe rested the urge to roll his eyes, this shouldn't have to be as awkward as Ed was somehow making this out to be.

“The reason I wanted us all to have this unofficial meeting is to meet the new member of our team.” Joe said bluntly and quickly, like ripping a plaster off it needed to be done effectively, he also gestured to Kenna who was now stood in front of her three new colleagues with a small and awkward smile on her face. Feeling the odd tension in the room Kenna decided to give a small wave. The three DC’s opposite her greeted her in different ways, the woman gave a small wave back, the man sat on the desk seemed to be eyeing her up and down whilst smirking, the last DC just proceeded to smile and give her a small nod. Ed decided to continue on from Joe after watching the quick exchanges of welcome towards his niece.

“Yes our new member, who will be assisting me down in the archives. This is Kenna, Kenna let me introduce you to DC Megan Riley, DC Finley Mansell, and last but not least DC Emerson Kent.” Making sure to point out to Kenna who was who Kenna began to feel more comfortable standing among the team, her Uncle had told her countless stories about his time as part of the team, about the many cases he had helped with. It was the small stories about members of the team themselves, however, that Kenna always enjoyed more, whenever her Uncle spoke about his team he always spoke with a sense of warmth and fondness so she was now glad to finally meet the people her Uncle considered family. “Kenna here is my niece, and I am certain that -“

“Your niece? Ed you never said you had a niece!”

“No way... she’s a Buchan!”

“Hi, nice to meet you.”

“Alright you lot calm down, you’ll frighten the poor girl,” Miles uttered from Joe’s side, Joe once again resisted an eye roll, he found the responses from his team amusing to say the least, but then again he too had the same response to the fact that Ed had a niece.

“Nice to know I’ve been talked about to highly of,” Kenna quipped, both Mansell and Kent smirked at the remark “And please it’s Ken, I have been looking forward to meeting you guys Uncle Ed talks about you all the time.”

“Yeah? Well let's hope it was all good things eh,” Mansell chuckled, he looked over to the DI whilst keeping one eye of the two Buchan’s, “So how come the archives are now a two-man job? Is Buchan too overworked or something?”

“Something like that, with the archives continuing to grow Ed cannot constantly keep up updating the entire archive as well as assisting us in cases whenever called for.”

“So is Kenna- Ken sorry, is an expert like Ed is in a way?” It was Kent who had asked the question and Kenna heard the small tone of doubt in his voice when he questioned whether or not she was an ‘expert’. Whether it was intentional or not after all her Uncle did get this job due to the fact he is an expert on Jack the Ripper.

“I've spent the last five years as a researcher for an American television show about unsolved crime cases, so I don't know if that technically makes me an ‘expert’ but then again I am a Buchan so that has to count for something.” She gave the man who had been introduced to her as Kent a quick wink before returning her gaze back over to Joe who seemed to be impressed at how well she was standing on her own towards the team.

“Expert of not, Ken will be joining us starting from Monday so Ed just wanted to bring her in to welcome her to the team and now that it's done, Ed can I see you in my office? Miles you too.” As quickly as it was said, Joe Miles and Ed headed back towards Joe’s office, leaving Kenna and the remaining team alone in the room.


	5. Chapter Five

**Family Matters**

Chapter Five

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes as Kenna watched the small meeting of Ed, Miles, and Joe discussing god knows what in the DI’s office, turning her head towards the trio of DC’s who had yet to move, still staring at her. Riley was the first to speak up, as she too noticed how uncomfortable Kenna seemed to look.

“It’s lovely to meet you Ken love, sorry if I sound a little shocked it's just, I never knew Ed had any other family apart from his mother. I almost feel a little silly -”

“Yeah how come we haven't heard about you before? We’ve been to Buchan’s place a few times and I can't remember ever seeing a photo of you.” Mansell's voice was confident as he interrupted the now annoyed Riley who was now just glaring at him. Kenna allowed a small smirk to form on her face watching the exchange between the two DC’s it was as if they were two squabbling siblings, feeling the need to break up the tension she just shrugged her shoulders.  
“It’s fine I completely understand the ‘shock’, Uncle Ed doesn't tend to speak a lot about my Mum so it makes sense that I haven't been mentioned. Don't worry I won't hold it against you!” Kenna jested, feeling more confident now in the company she was keeping she let herself walk forward until she was standing in front of Riley’s desk.

“Glad to hear that! So your starting Monday then, you nervous?” Mansell asked, leaning forward giving her a toothy grin, Kenna glanced over at Kent he was staring at her with a sad look on his face, this made the smile of Kenna’s face disappear. Returning her gaze back to the other two DC’s across from her once again she shrugged and looked over her shoulder back at her Uncle who was still in a deep discussion with the DI and DS.  
“To be honest with you, I’m not nervous about the job per se as I’ve been a researcher so I know what’s expected, I’m more nervous about working with my Uncle. I have a feeling that I maybe have not thought this through.” She let herself chuckle and was surprised when the other three people in front of her joined her,

“Well, if you ever need to escape, we’ll be up here for you.” Kent offered giving her a genuine smile that made her feel suddenly flustered, not being able to think of any other response at the moment Kenna just blurted out a quick ‘thank you’ before quickly tucking a loose strand of hair from the front of her face behind her ear. 

Mansell and Riley silently watched the short exchange happening in front of them and smirked at each other, they were going to have plenty of fun teasing Kent to no end later on. Riley shook her head at the two adults in front of her and decided to change the subject quickly.  
“So, you said you’ve been a researcher on a TV show? That sounds amazing, I’ve always loved the idea of being on the telly, all the glitz, and glam. How come your back in England now?” The question brought Kenna back into the room and slightly caught her off guard, straightening up a little, she took a quick second to collect her thoughts.

“Yes it was a show called ‘Unsolved America: True Crime’”, she looked on at the unimpressed faces on both Riley and Mansell, “I know, very original name right! I wasn't on camera myself, I was more of a behind the scenes person. I made sure that the show had all the correct facts and collecting all the possible theories for each case, as well as helping with writing the show’s script. We ran for four seasons until we were canceled by the show network. So being out of work and unable to pay rent kinda forced me to move back home.” Thinking back to her time in America, the people she knew and the opportunities she was given Kenna smiled fondly, she would be kidding herself if she said she didn't miss living over there. On the other hand, she was happy to be back with the family, now being given the opportunity to use her research experience in a new way than she was used to.

“Oh yeah I’ve heard of that show, one of my roommates has it on all the time, it was really good.” Kent blurted out, purposely not looking at the smiles plastered on both Riley and Mansell’s faces and the smiles only seemed to grow after Kenna seemed to respond in an almost flirtatious manner,

“Why thank you, always nice to meet a fan.”

Before any more could be said the office doors opened behind them and Ed walked through a smile on his face as he turned in the direction of his niece.

“Sorry about that, just needed to go over the last few details before Monday, shall we carry on down to the archives now? Finley, I have some boxes full of new cases at the front desk that I may need help bringing down, would you mind?”

“Of course, you guys head downstairs I’ll bring them.”

“I’ll give you hand,” Riley said quickly, moving with Mansell heading out the doors towards the station front desk. Kenna watched the two with a grin on her face, she was looking forward to coming back into this team on Monday morning now. Realising that her Uncle was waiting for her at the doors she quickly looked over to Kent who hadn't moved from his spot and gave him a small smile,

“Thank you, for making me feel welcome. You wouldn't believe how much I was dreading this moment over the past week.”

“No need to thank us, just be glad that Mansell hasn't said anything inappropriate yet.” Kent chuckled, he also noticed that Ed was waiting for Kenna to join him so decided to wrap the conversation up, “Also I’m sorry, if it sounded like I was questioning your expertise earlier, it honestly wasn't intentional.”

“Hey, its no big deal, if it makes you feel any better I don't keep grudges.” And with that she started to walk over to her Uncle who was now checking his watch 5.00 pm, however, as she passed Kent she whispered in a low voice,

“For long.” Laughing at the stunned man's face she hurried over to her Uncle who then waved goodbye to Miles and Joe who had been in a private discussion of their own back in the office.

  
****************************************************************************************************************

“So what do you think?”

“Of what this room or the four flights of stairs needed to get down here?”

Both Ed and Kenna were now stood in the main room of the archives, Kenna was off to the side flicking through some of the open files cases. She had listened to her Uncle ramble on about his excitement about her joint the team, for the most part, she had just nodded along often projecting an agreeing sound from her lips, but in all honesty, she was just trying to get her head around how far down in the Station they really were.

“Of the team, do my many tales do them justice?” Ed smirked at his niece who was still looking through pages of old case files, he noticed that she was over at the small international section that we started all those months ago that he had yet to finish. During his short and brief meeting with Joe and Miles, he made sure to glance over check on his niece, who he only realised after entering Joe’s office he had left alone with the team, however, he was pleased to see that they were all in conversation. Although he couldn't see his niece’s face during the quick glance he could see both Riley and Mansell’s smiling faces which reassured him that she was fine.

“They’re nice, I was a little worried about meeting Mansell considering you basically made it out that he was a complete ladies man what with the whole ‘having a divorce party’, but he seems harmless.”

“Well I wouldn't say I’m harmless, I just like to have fun.”

Kenna whipped her head around to find the person who the voice belonged to, however, she couldn’t see anyone else in the room apart from her Uncle, even Ed looked around surprised. Mansell soon appeared coming round the corner, three big boxes of case files stacked on top of each other in his arms. Riley wasn't far behind him a light chuckle on her lips, she too had boxes stacked in her arms.

“Ed sweetie, where do you want these?”

“Just leave them all here on the table, we shall deal with them on Monday, your first task Ken my dear.”

“…great.”

Mansell laughed at the young girls’ unenthusiastic response and dumped the boxes down on the large table in the center of the room, Kenna jumped in to help remove the stacked boxes from Riley’s arm to join them with the three Mansell had brought in. Riley moved over to stand by Ed as both Mansell and Kenna removed the individual cases files from the boxes.

“So then Ed, where are these from? Australia? Japan?”

“Actually these are all the research papers and cases from Kenna’s time in America. We figured it would make sense to start with the American cases solved and unsolved as Kenna has more experience in that area.”

“Yeah, I managed to persuade the guys from the show to send these over. They'd been clogging up some warehouse with all of the old prop and set pieces from the show, they actually had plans to burn it all, so they were really happy and relieved that I emailed them.” Kenna added. A few months ago when her Uncle mentioned that he was starting to build an international section of the archive she emailed one of her old colleagues, all the boxes had been dumped in her own apartment since being mailed over the month after originally reaching out.

“Mansell we should get back upstairs love, the boss will start to wonder where we are. Plus you know it long it takes me ages to back up those stairs.”

“Why would he worry, it’s not like we were in the middle of something important.” Mansell went back to grab mores cases from the box in front of him, however, the look on Riley’s face made him back away from the table and slowly head for the door. Before the two DC’s left the Uncle & niece duo to their own company Mansell paused and turned back to Kenna,

“Oh Ken, forgot to do this earlier. A little test for you, to truly see if you shall fit in with us.”

“A test, really?”

“Why yes, all newbie's must take the test, see it as an initiation.”

“Is this a real thing or have you just made this up on the spot?”

“No sweetie, it's real. I had to do when I joined.” Kenna heard Riley through the wall and she shook her head before she had a chance to accept the challenge Ed quickly interrupted,

“I don't remember ever taking such a test when I joined the team.” Kenna saw a flash of guilt cross over Mansell’s face,

“Oh really? Well… well, I think because technically you were already such a big part of the team since before you ‘officially’ joined that we found no reason to make you go through such a meaningless process.” The words blurted out of Mansell’s mouth, Kenna hung her head with a small sigh, that's embarrassing was all she could think.

“Anyway, Ken, the test is simple. I will put forward to you a word or a series of words and you need to answer with only one word as your response. So for example, if I said the word ‘Queen’ to you, you would say…?”

“Legends.”

“The only answer I will accept! Brilliant you get it. Right, let's go: Dogs?”

“Adorable.”

“History?”

“Compelling.”

“Takeaway?”

“Curry.”

“Are you single?”

“Fuck you!” Kenna glared at Mansell, a huge smirk was plastered on his face, Riley’s laughter was heard from the hallway outside, even Ed hide a smile behind his hand.

“It’s an important question, are you single?”

“…yes”

“Thank you, now ghosts?”

“Bullshit.”

“You don't believe in ghosts?” Mansell almost looked offended, all Kenna could do was stare at him with a look of disbelief on her face.

“Of course I don’t, because I believe in facts and logical thinking. Does this mean I failed the test?”

“Huh, okay you just seemed like a believer to me. As for the test, you will find out on Monday.” and with that, he diapered around the corner and the sounds of both Mansell and Riley’s footsteps could be heard going up the stairs. Kenna shared the same look of disbelief with Ed, this new job was going to be weird.


	6. Chapter Six

**Family Matters**

Chapter Six

The weekend went by far too quickly for Kent’s liking, walking into the Station on Monday morning he was shocked to see that for once he was not the first person to walk through the doors. He could see Chandler through the blinds of the small office at the end of the room, sat at his desk going through papers occasionally adjusting the items on his desk, although Chandler was always in before any other member of the team. It was the sight of Mansell that surprised Kent, for as long as Kent had known Mansell he was always late, every time it was always due to ‘traffic’ which was another way of saying he had overslept. So to see him sat at his desk looking smug and extremely happy didn't sit well with Kent. 

“What have you done? You're never early, and you are definitely never this happy in the morning.” As Kent passed Mansell’s desk he noticed the takeaway coffee cup placed on his own desk, looking back to Mansell who was taking a sip out of his own coffee, giving him a thoughtful smile Kent sat down in his chair and began logging into his computer.

“Why does everyone always think I’ve done something? Can I not just turn up to work on time, make sure everyone has a lovely cup of coffee ready at their desks and not be accused of having a hidden motive?” Kent just stared at the man sat on the desk beside him, the day hadn't even started yet and already there was not enough coffee in the world to deal with Mansell right now, he was starting to wish Mansell went back to his normal morning mood: grumpy and possibly hungover. His upbeat attitude was something Kent was not used to.

“No, not when you word it like that.”

“Yeah you've got a point there, to be honest, I’m only in early to just drop off Kenna’s little welcome gift.” 

Kent nearly spat out the hot coffee he was in the middle of drinking, looking at Mansell with an exasperated expression on his face. “Did you have to do the test on her, with Riley it made sense, she shares the same messed up humor as you.”

“Her answers were great. Anyway, I didn't do the full test with Kenna after all Buchan was there and I was not going to ask some of the specific questions I wanted to ask if you get me.” Shooting a wink over to Kent, all the DC could go was groan in disgust and rest is head in his hands, he would love for Riley or Skip to enter the station and distract him right now. “Oh and before you ask, yes she is single.” His head left his hands a little too hastily as he stared at Mansell with a bewildered look on his face,

“Why- why would I even want to know that?” 

“Oh please, both me and Riley saw your stupid face when she was talking to you, you couldn't look away, I mean I don't blame you she is very pretty.”

“I was just taking an interest in our new team member, it’s called being nice.”

“It’s called flirting, we heard you: _‘If you ever need to escape’_ , but hey whatever works for you, it looked like she was into it.” 

“Who was into what?” Came the voice of Riley who was hanging up her coat by the doors of the office, Kent resisted the urge to cry out in frustration, can the phone please ring to save him from the conversation that was undoubtedly about to happen. 

“Kenna, I was just saying that she totally into Kent attempt at flirting, I mean no offence mate but your wooing tactics could need some work. It was weak and kind of pathetic to watch.” 

“I was not flirting.”

“You may not have been love but she definitely was. I mean did you see the way she -“

“Alright break up the mother's meeting, let's get on with whatever you need to get on with.” Grunted a tired and moody Miles who stormed over to his desk without so much as a good morning, the trio shared a concerned glance but did what was asked of them, they all returned to their own tasks Riley made sure to send over a small thanks to Mansell for the drink. Kent looked back over to his screen and opened his emails, so began another boring day at the office. 

**************************************************************************************************************** 

“We’ve got one.” 

The office had been so quiet that Chandler's sudden announcement made the team jump out of their seats, Miles had already started to make his way over to his coat hanging at the office doors as he called out,

“Anything we should know before we get there, or is this going to be a lovely surprise?”

“Nothing was said in detail there are signs of foul play, but they did warn me that we should be prepared, whatever that means.” 

“I love it when they tease us. Is Llewellyn down there already?” 

“She’s on her way.” 

As Chandler and Miles headed out of the office first the trio of DC’s were also on the move, grabbing their own coats and silently deciding between the three of them who would be following their superiors in the car. Riley was the designated driver for the day it had been decided.

“Finally. A bit of action, I hope you boys are ready.” 

“I just ready to do anything that doesn't involve reading the same report ten times over on the same day. I could have handed it in after the fifth check, but _somebody_ wasn't happy.” 

“In my defense Mansell you had misspelled the word ‘definitely’ every time you attempted to proofread the document. ‘Defiantly’ is a completely different word.” Kent challenged. 

“You two have ‘defiantly’ lost music privileges for the ride over.” Riley joked, and with that, the team left the office and headed out to the crime scene. 

****************************************************************************************************************

They were not prepared for the sight that awaited them in the home of Lewis Beswick and Anna-Maire Lowden. 

The walls were covered in blood, it even reached the ceiling. There were clear signs of a struggle in the bedroom, photo frames were on the floor the glass shattered, spread out on the carpeted floor which was also stained red. It was, however, the sight on the bed that made Chandler feel uneasy. Dr. Llewellyn was hovering over the body of a young woman, her head had smashed into the point where Chandler could not make out her facial features. Hair blonde hair was caked in dried dark blood that had been recently cut, Chandler knew this due to the clumps of hair that was covering the ripped bedsheets and at the edge of the bed. The hair had clearly beeing cut by the murder weapon. Letting his eyes wander down the victim's body Chandler could vaguely make out small bruises on her arms and neck, she had stubbled during this graphically brutal attack. 

“Hello again, I was just thinking the other day that it had been a while since I had last seen you Ray.”

“Not sure if this was what you were thinking in regards to a reunion then?” Remarked Miles, normally he was very comfortable in making small talk when standing in a room with a dead body, however, this time felt different. He didn't know if it was the brutality and gore of the sight before him or if it was the unsettling notion that the murder had taken place in this couple's bedroom, a room that was supposed to be a safe sanctuary. 

“Well, I think I’ve said it before but I suppose it's not the same if we're not at a crime scene. I don’t think I need to tell you what the cause of death is.”

“Blow to the head.” Chandler stated bluntly, he walked a little closer to the body making sure to be careful where he stood, “Do you have an idea of a murder weapon?” 

“It’s hard to say as she’s still covered in blood so I’m unable to fully examine the head wound, but my initial thoughts would be something like a large, double-bladed item. Possibly an axe.” Chandler nodded at Llewellyn and turned back to face Miles, they both knew they would not get any more information until back in the morgue so they decided to head over to speak to the witness who had discovered the bodies. Chandler looked around the living room they were stood in and noticed the amount of pictures hung on the walls, the photographs always seemed to feature the same two people. The woman who Chandler assumed to be the poor unfortunate victim who was now dead, and a man whose face quickly jolted Chandler’s memory.

“Any news on the second victim?” 

“Yeah, he’s been taken to hospital. When the ambulance arrived they said that he was barely breathing which is a bloody miracle if you ask me considering the sight of that poor girl in there.” 

“The witness?”

“Riley’s with her now, she in shock of course so it might take a while to get anything out of her. Do you want me to ask the questions?” 

By the time the two men had left the building they could a sobbing woman sat at the back of one of the ambulances, Riley was stood next to her, a hand resting on her shoulder a small attempt to comfort the clearly shaken woman. Making sure to be cautious in their approach to the woman Miles cleared his throat to alert Riley of their presence to which Riley tapped the woman’s shoulder.

“Katy love, this is DI Joseph Chandler and DS Ray Miles they just want to ask a few questions, are you up for it hun?” Her voice was calm quiet and motherly, perfect in creating a moment of sense of security for the woman now addressed as Katy. Katy who had taken some deep breaths to allow herself to stop the tears flowing from her eyes nodded briefly before facing the two men in front of her. 

“This won't take too long lass, we just want to know what happened this morning when you found the bodies?” Miles went straight in, he always said that in some cases especially with witnesses that were over emotionally bluntness was the best method, though Joe would tend to argue with him on that one. 

“I - I um, sorry. I don’t know if I can help much. I was - I was delivering a cake that Anna placed an order for a few weeks ago for Lewis’s birthday, I have my own business see. When nobody answered the door I got worried, I texted Anna last night and she said that they both had the day off and would be up to let me in.” 

“If that was the case, how did you get into the building?” Chandler asked he remembered that when they first arrived that there was no sign of forced entry at the front of the house. 

“I - I used to be Anna’s roommate before Lewis moved in so I still had a key, I couldn't see them downstairs so I called for them upstairs, it was only when I went up the stairs that I saw the blood on the floor outside their room...” 

“Thank you, Miss?”

“Fairham, is Lewis going to be okay?”

Riley looked down at the teary-eyed Katy with a small sympathetic smile, “All we know right now love is that he’s in the best place to be looked after.” 

Leaving Miss Fairham with Riley to complete the statement, Miles and Chandler agreed to head back over to the station to begin boarding up all they knew so far. Miles waved over Kent and Mansell who had just returned from going door to door collecting statements from neighbors to see if they had any information from the past 12 hours. 

“Boys’, let the forensics and Llewellyn do their job and let's head back to the station. Kent you come with us, we need someone to reach out and talk to the families. Mansell, wait for Riley and then head back and start going through family history, friends, enemies anything to give us a starting edge. 

“On it Skip.”

“Yes Skip.” 

Kent headed over to the join both the DI and DS as they made their way to Chandler’s car and drove back to the station, from there they split up. Both Miles and Kent headed straight to the main office, Miles was to begin writing up everything on the whiteboards ‘neatly’ as Chandler had reminded him to do in the car. Kent was to start reaching out to the families of both Lewis Beswick and Anna-Maire Lowden to bring them the news that no one would ever want to hear. It was a job that nobody enjoyed but it had to be done. Chandler, on the other hand, headed down to the basement level to check in with Ed and Kenna. He had to admit for her first day Kenna had really been thrown into the deep end.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Family Matters**

Chapter Seven

“So what do we have so far?”

Chandler and Miles were standing in front of the single whiteboard in front of them. There were two photos pinned on the top third of the board, one of the photographs was taken from Anna-Marie Lowden’s social media. In the photograph, she was happy and full of life. Her eyes sparkled, her smile was wide, the complete opposite of the photograph that was pinned at its side. One of the photographs from the crime scene they had been to that morning, you couldn’t even see her eyes, there was no smile on her face.

“Anna-Marie Lowden: 26 years old, she was a hairdresser only just promoted to assistant manager. According to Llewellyn’s notes, she was hacked over the left ear and slowly bled to death, it looks like she was unconscious for 7 hours before she died to the amount of blood she lost.” Miles kept his head down as he recalled what was said in the first impression he received from Llewellyn back at the crime scene, the rest of the team had now regrouped, Mansell and Riley had returned from the crime scene and Kent had finally finished getting off the phone with the victim's families. 

“Poor girl, it horrific to think that she was lying there all night unable to get help.” Riley couldn't help but mumble, Chandler nodded and looked over at the rest of the paperwork in his hand and started to write on the board some of the main details from Llewellyn, he listened as Riley continued to talk,

“When I was speaking with Miss Fairham: the witness who found both Anna-Marie and Lewis, she mentioned that not only was it Lewis's birthday tomorrow but it was also the day he was going to propose to Anna-Marie. It was going to be a surprise.”

“Yeah well looks like the surprise they received was a little bigger than planned for.” Quipped Mansell, he ignored the distasteful glares he was getting from Riley, Kent, and Miles, for this was how he dealt with uncomfortable situations. As Chandler finished writing up the notes on the board in relation to Anna-Marie’s death he looked over to the small photograph on the left-hand side of the board that was the face of Lewis Beswick.

“What about Beswick? Any news on him?”

“He was struck above his right temple, resulted in a possible skull fracture. He is still in the hospital, looks like he’s going to be there for a while.”

“Family. Kent how did you get on, anything we can work on?”

“Lowden didn’t have much family, the only person I was able to contact was her mother. She was sad, although it sounded forced.”

“Forced?”

“Almost like she was making herself sound more heart-broken than she really was. Like she didn't care.”

“What kind of mother would force herself to be devastated about her own daughter's murder, if that was my baby girl I wouldn't even know what I would do.” Riley looked livid at the thought of a daughter being unloved by her own mother, to break the rising tension Chandler looked back over to Kent who too looked not as livid as Riley but upset at the notion either way.

“Beswick’s family was able to shine some light on that, it was a little difficult to get a hold of them though as they live in Australia, they are flying over now to be there for when Beswick eventually gets out of the hospital. They didn't know of anyone who would have any sort of feud with either Lewis or Anna-Marie, they didn't like Anna’s mother though. Apparently, she didn't approve of the relationship between Anna-Marie and Lewis, so much so that she kicked her out at 16 and basically disowned her. Lewis’s mum said that they were trying to persuade them to move over to Australia, start over.” After Kent had finished relaying the information he collected, Chandler stood back from the board and looked at the small amount of information on the board. There was not much to go on, no murder weapon just an assumption based on the victim's wounds, no current possible motives. They needed something to work with and they needed it soon, he looked over to Mansell who was failing to hide a yawn,

“Mansell I want you to go back to the crime scene and go over the fine details, see if you find how the killer got in, while you are there go around some of the houses again see if anyone remembers anything. Miles and I are going to head down to the morgue see if Dr. Llewellyn has anything else to help us. Riley, I want you to bring Mrs. Lowden in. Purely to secure an alibi, we don't want to assume anything just yet. So let’s not spook her.” The last two statements made Riley responded with a slightly irritated smile, but she nodded all the same. “Kent I need you to stay here, carry on with the family history as well looking into other means of motive, also the CVTV from the surrounding streets will be sent over soon I want you going through that as soon as it arrives.”After taking one last look at the two photos of Anna-Marie side by side the team started to disperse. Mansell heading out back to the murder scene, Kent back on the phone to contact Mrs. Lowden again, meanwhile, Chandler and Miles headed backed into Chandler’s office. After five minutes Chandler and Miles headed out towards the morgue leaving Kent and Riley waiting for Mrs. Lowden to arrive at the station for their chat. Mrs. Lowden wasn't happy to be contacted again but Kent was able to convince her to come in to answer their questions, she wasn’t due to arrive for fifth-teen minutes, so they couldn't do much apart from getting on with other aspects of the investigation. They were both too focused on the work that they didn't hear or noticed Kenna enter the room, case files in her hand.

Looking ahead to see into Chandler’s office, Kenna realised that he wasn't there. An hour ago Chandler had updated bother Ed and herself on the murder, immediately her Uncle was sent into action, zig-zagging across the archives to find cases that would be able to provide insight. Kenna was surprised to be working on a murder case so quickly, she didn't know what to do, so she let her Uncle guide her in the process. Going on only what Chandler had told them, the only main factors they could really work on where the fact the victims were attacked in their beds and the fact that the possible murder weapon was to be an axe, but that was yet to be confirmed. So here she was, with as many cases she could carry in her hand that her Uncle had thrust upon her to take to the DI. Ed would have been the one to discuss the findings, however, he felt that the best way to learn was to dive headfirst into the action, to rip the stabilisers off as he had dramatically stated. Hence there she was, unsure of what to do now that the only person she was told speak too was not in his office. Without even realising she was doing it she started to walk forward, her eyes suddenly drawn to the whiteboard at the side of the room. All she could do was stare, stare at the neatly written letters spelling out a woman’s name at the very top, the perfectly written notes all centered and clean. It as clear that someone spent some time making sure this board was organised and not tampered with. However it wasn't the fancy handwriting that initially caught Kenna’s eye, it was the photograph, the only photograph that would haunt her dreams for weeks. The hacked and bloody body of Anna-Marie Lowden. As she looked at the photograph a wave of multiple emotions flooded her, she felt sick, she wanted to vomit and cry and scream all at the same time, however, when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. As if out of instinct she went to tug down on one of her sleeves but due to the files in her dominate hand she wasn't able to reach sleeve.

“First time?”

The sudden voice was loud and make Kenna jump out of her skin. The files in her hand dropped the floor and Kenna turned her head quickly to the right to be face to face with a conceded looking Kent. Giving her an apologetic smile and bent down to grab the fallen files.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to… here.” Kenna took back the files with a small smile,

“Thanks, and yeah you could say it’s a first. Normally the types of crime scene photos that I'm used too are decades, sometimes centuries old. I’ve never seen anything… anyone like that.” Averting her gaze back to the photograph Kenna let out a breath that she didn't realise she was holding. Kent let his focus also gaze from Kenna to the photograph that her eyes were fixed on.

“I understand, trust me I do. It gets worse you know.”

“That's it, that's your pep-talk? Seriously, did you want to slap me in the face while you're at it?” The words were dry and blunt, it wasn't intended to be mean and she suddenly felt guilty the seconds the words left her mouth. The small embarrassing chuckle from Kent reassured her that he had taken it as a joke, a bad joke, but a joke either way.

“Yeah, that came out wrong, sorry. I’m - I’m just trying to say, with this job, you end up accepting early on that it’s not something you can control. You are going to see things that sometimes make you question humanity. There are several images in my head from some of my first cases that I’ve never seen able to shake from my memory.” Looking back over to Kenna, he cringed as her facial expression, he really wasn't helping. “But - It’s how your able to move from each case that you are able to control. Being able to come into work, not allowing those thoughts and images to eat you up inside. It makes you a little stronger each day that passes.” The words were comforting and Kenna was able to finally look away from the photo on the board.

“Look at that, you got there. I was getting a little worried halfway though, I don't think even you knew where you were going with that.” Her tone was playful, giving him a toothy grin she looked back through the messy papers now in her hand. Kent too had returned the smile, quickly glancing over to Riley, he rolled his eyes as he saw that she was watching the exchange with an entertained, cheeky smile on her face. To make it worse she was even giving him a double thumbs up. She stood up and started making her way out to the room,

“Kent hun, I’m off to speak to Mrs. Lowden she’s bound to here by now. Ken sweetie nice to see you up here, I’ll leave you too to it.” After the doors of the office closed once Riley left the room there was a weird silence, Kenna couldn't help but bite on her lower lip as she sensed the unspoken conversation between both Kent and Riley. Soon enough though she found the silence too much,

“Do you know when DI Chandler is going to be back it’s just, there are a few cases here that my Uncle wants me to go through with him.”

“I’m not sure, both the boss and skip are at the morgue, there’s never a time frame with that. So what has Ed come up with? Anything that we can use?” Turning around to head back to his desk Kent looked back to encouraged her to follow putting distance between and Kenna and the whiteboard.

“I mean there were only a few details from the initial crime scene we could use, so until we hear about anything else, I don’t know whether these are going to any use.”

“Come on, humor me. At least use this as a practice run before standing in front of Chandler for the first time.”

The idea of standing in front of Chandler and presenting her Uncle’s assumptions and predictions was daunting to her, so this surprising proposal from Kent felt like a weight being removed from her shoulder.

“Well, as I said there were only two main factors we were given to start with. The possibility of the murder weapon being an axe as well as the fact both victims were found in their bed. Going by these factors we were able to pull out a few cases that include either one or both of these factors…”

Kent carried on listening to Kenna was she presented the archive findings, he hadn't realised it but a smile was plastered on his face. Kenna really was Ed’s niece, hearing the confidence and passion in her voice as she spoke about the events of the past. Usually, Kent would have to force himself to keep his eyes open when listening to Ed in the past, but he found he wasn't forcing himself to listen to Kenna. It was an unusual feeling that he couldn't place in his mind, shaking the thought out of his head he brought his attention back to Kenna, who was now in her element, growing more confident by each word she spoke.

He was really happy Mansell wasn't in the room right now.


	8. Chapter Eight

** Family Matters **

Chapter Eight

The doors of the investigation room swung open so violently that both Kent and Riley nearly hit the deck in shock and fear, but when they saw Mansell’s determined and confident smirk as he strutted over to them they couldn’t help but combine an eye roll and a sigh. The pair of DC’s were based over at Kent’s desk as they were finishing up on the family history and checking over Mrs. Lowden’s statement. During her casual talk with Riley Mrs. Lowden had claimed to have several alibis for the whole night of her daughter's murder, to help with the load Kent was helping Riley by checking that all of the named alibi’s were indeed true. For the time being with only two people left to check with, her statement was lining up to be a true account. 

“Where’s the boss?” Mansell proclaimed loudly with a smug tone in his voice.

“He’s in his office with Skip and Ken. Going over some possible history leads, why?” Kent answered a little too quickly, the three people in question had been in the office for about 45 minutes now. After Chandler and Miles returned from their chat with Llewellyn Kenna had only just finished talking through her second case theory with Kent, he was a little sad to cut their time short but after all, they all had jobs to get on with, and when Riley came back with the information regarding Miss Lowden’s mother, Kent realised that he would have to stop getting so easily distracted. This was a murder case after all.

“Well, you two might as well give up on winning DC of the week for I have knocked it out of the park, and will leave you all crying embarrassing tears of-.”

“Finley dear, I love you but I am not in the mood for your antics, so get to your point before I kick you so hard in the bollocks you will be the one crying the embarrassing tears.” It the daggers in her eyes and the fact that Riley did not give even the slightest of a smile that made the boys realise she was serious, so Mansell straightened up and pulled out his phone,

“You are never going to believe what I have just found!” After finally finding what he was looking for he turned the screen to the two DC’s and their eyes widened. Kent leapt to his feet almost pushing Mansell towards, the office door

“Don’t even knock mate, just get in there and tell them!”. However, they were met with Chandler opening the door for before Mansell got his hand on the doors handle, he seemed to have spotted the excitement the three of them had all shared.

“What is it, what have you found?” It was blunt and to the point, however, there was a small tone of desperation in Chandler’s voice. Their chat with Llewellyn had not come up with anything new to go on with, Llewellyn had pretty much told them that without knowing the exact weapon of even having the weapon they wouldn't be able to confirm or deny anything as of yet. There was no sign of any DNA on the body of Anna-Marie Lowden apart from her partners and he was still in no fit state to interview yet, so if Mansell had found anything of use it was now or never. 

“The weapon.” Both Miles and Kenna had now joined the small group formed at the front of Chandler’s office, Miles at once went to Chandler’s side to take a look at the photo on Mansell’s phone, Kenna, on the other hand, hovered over to stand next to Kent, her case files safely under her arm. Mansell saw this as an opportunity to explain himself with the silence in the room becoming uncomfortable, “When I arrived at the scene there honestly wasn't much, by the looks of it the main disturbance was in the bedroom as nothing in any other room was touched. Both victim's personal items such as laptops, mobiles, and money hadn't been removed so clearly there was no robbery intent. So I went back into the bedroom to see if we had missed anything in the first observation after all we were too busy dealing with the body and stuff. But, taking another look around I saw that there was a lot of blood at the base and the side of the wardrobe opposite the bed. Now I don't know how hard you need to hit someone to get a splutter pattern that far away but either this geezer is hell-a strong or as you can all see by the photograph, the suspect hid the weapon so he would not have it on him.”Chandler would never say it out loud, but Mansell had just saved their skins, with the phone still in his hand he looked up and uttered the only thing that was on his mind, 

“Where is it now?” 

“We made sure that it went down to Llewellyn, I feel sorry for her husband… let’s just say the noise she made when I told her -”

“Let’s not create an image that nobody wants to have in their heads.” Kenna quipped, Miles who was, in turn, nodding in agreement took the phone from Chandler’s hands and looked closer at the weapon in the photograph. 

“Do we know where this is from?” The weapon itself was an average-sized garden axe, and judging by the photograph it was covered in blood, the suspect must not have had time to clean up after himself. 

“Well, that's the thing, after we found it and sent it off to Llewellyn a neighbour two houses down came by. He said he wanted to speak to someone right away he remembered something from the night of the murder, I went over for a chat and he said that around 11 pm to midnight he swears he heard a loud bang and some commotion out in one of the gardens next to him. At the time he didn't think anything of it, after all, he knew that Lewis kept a fridge out in the garden shed for beer as he’d been over theirs for a BBQ before, so he reckoned it was Lewis going out for a bottle.” While Mansell was retelling his tale Kent saw from the corner of his eye Kenna carefully flicking through the files she had in her arms as if something had triggered her memory. 

“Anyway after we got the statement from the neighbour we went back to check the shed, no only was the lock on the door broken there was an organised and labeled line of garden tools hanging on the wall, the axe was missing from the line-up.”

“It was their axe.” Chandler concluded. He walked over to the board and began to write up their new information, Miles who at the same time gave back Mansell’s phone gave him a pat on the back, 

“Well done lad knew you were more than just a pretty face.” 

“Thank you Skip, after this is all done I will let you know my skincare secrets.” The small chuckles in the room were now suddenly hushed as Chandler cleared his throat gaining their attention.

“Right while were all here, let's go over everything again, Riley what did you find out from Mrs. Lowden?” 

“I found that she goes straight through to the semi-finals of the worst mother of the century award. She started the conversation stating that if she wanted to get back at her daughter for ‘ruining her life’, she wouldn’t attack her while she was sleeping. Anyway, she claimed that the night of the attack she was working all night - she works at a strip club as a table server. Kent and I have checked with the manager and they in return have sent us CCTV of Lowden’s whole shift.” 

“Anything from that?”

It was Kent who next spoke, his attention now shifting away from a still distracted Kenna, “So far we’re only a third way through the CCTV but she was working that night. We have also managed to get a hold of other employees working that night just to guarantee that she didn't leave the club for an extended amount of time.”

“Kenna, does this new information help? Will it narrow down cases?” Came the voice of Chandler who had now finished writing up all the information the team had put forward, suddenly all eyes were now on Kenna who in turn was dumping at least half the file cases she was carrying onto Kent’s desk. 

“It already has. Now with the fact that the murder weapon was indeed an axe and was owned by the victims as well as the victims being in their beds when it happened has most definitely ruled out potential cases as well as highlighting certain ones as well. There are cases like the ‘Pierre Provost’ and ‘The Villisca Ax Murderer case’-”

“For those of us who don’t speak ‘history nerd’,” Mansell interrupted “could you please elaborate so we feel like we're apart of the conversation.” 

“The Villisca Ax murders occurred between the evening of June 10, 1912, and the early morning of June 11, 1912. Six members of the Moore family and two house guests were found bludgeoned to death in the Moore residence. All eight victims, including six children, had severe head wounds from an axe. With the Provost case: A family of four were discovered dead in 1878. The crime was reported by a mysterious man called Pierre Provost, he had walked to a neighbour's house to report it and of course, first reporters of crimes often became the first suspect so Provost was under suspicion from day one. He was arrested and he hung himself in jail. Is that simple enough for you Mansell?” 

“Yeah… yeah, cheers mate. Carry on.” The voice was quiet and slightly embarrassed. 

“Anyway, there are also cases with suspects such as Jake Bird: On October 30th, 1947, Bird broke into the house of Bertha Kludt and her daughter Beverley, after a struggle Bird killed them with an axe. The police were called and Bird was arrested for first-degree murder.” 

“Well, that one sounded pretty straight forward.” Riley chimed in, 

“Bird confessed to at least 44 other murders whilst on death row if that was true Bird could have possibly been one of the worst serial killers of all time.”

“Maybe not that straight forward eh Riles?”

“Shut up Kent.” 

“Do you or Ed have any theories yet, it all well and good knowing the old historical facts, but what do you think we should be looking for?” Chandler’s tone wasn't belittling or harsh, it was more like he was pushing Kenna to say what she was trying to keep to herself, he had sensed throughout her speech that she wanted to say more, almost push forward another case but it seemed like something was holding her back. 

“Well, Uncle Ed seems to believe that it is just one suspect that you should be looking for after all most cases including the ones I’ve mentioned were committed by one person.”

“And you?”

“I… I don't have a theory, Uncle Ed is suggesting that for this case at least I should observe rather than attempt to join in with the theorising, I don't want to get it wrong and mess it up for you guys.” Chandler eyed Kenna, he was a little confused as to her not having an opinion, but he trusted Ed, maybe she did need a little training after all she had been thrown into the worst-case scenario on day one. Giving her a nod he reached over and took the case files that Kenna had narrowed down for him. 

“Thank you, I want you and Ed to carry on with the research, see if you can find anything else. It's nearly the end of the shift, we shall carry on fresh tomorrow but well-done everyone, Mansell especially. Get some rest.” 

The last thirty minutes of the shift was mainly Mansell being overly cocky about his big find and Riley resisting the urge to punch him in the face. Miles and Chandler had gone back down to see Llewellyn, with the murder weapon they were now hoping for some more details and news to work with. Kent had just finished clearing his desk and waved off Riley and Mansell who each left at their respective home times, Mansell was still on cloud nine, and honestly, it was starting to get on everyone's nerves. He was halfway towards the door when Kenna walked back into the investigation room looking quite frantic, meeting him in the middle of the room she looked relieved to see him.

“Kent, thank god! Have you seen one of the case files I had earlier? When I took the spare ones back down to the archive, I realised I was missing one!” 

“Does the boss not have it? I mean you did hand him a few to go over.” 

“No, I made sure not to give him this particular one, it was just a stupid idea...” Her eyes were darting around the room so quick Kent was surprised she could even focus on anything, but Kent decided to ignore the last few words she had uttered, judging by how quietly she had said them it was clear he wasn't meant to have heard them.

“Okay, okay calm down Ed’s not going to smite you down or anything, you last had the most of them near my desk, maybe it fell under the desk?” 

It took less than a minute for the both of them to check under the desk before Kent pulled out the case in question, before announcing he had found it he made sure to sneak a peek at the contents. Once the case was in Kenna’s hands Kent swore he had never seen a more relieved person. 

“Thank you Kent, honestly I swear I’m going to keep these things glued to me at this rate.”

“No worries, why were you so worried? Has Ed put on a curfew for cases nowadays, must they be home by 5.30 pm or else?” It was a poor joke, he knew it, he wasn't witty like Mansell or even Riley but the small chuckle escaping Kenna’s lips made him smile. 

“Well, considering he left for home about 3 hours ago he doesn't know about this misplaced case, and he will never know.”

“Never know about what?”

“Bingo. Anyway, I better get this back, thank you again Kent I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry about it, and it’s Emerson.” Kenna was almost out the door before Kent quickly called out, “Hey! By the way, Mansell said he left you a ‘Welcome’ present for you this morning, what was it?” Kent did not miss the annoyed moan and sunken head as Kenna turned around to face him. 

“It was a welcome card that not only had a confetti canon inside but plays the song Ghostbusters every time you open it. It took me nearly an hour to clean up the confetti it got everywhere, plus Uncle Ed kept opening the damn card to play that stupid song! I’m so getting him back mark my words.” With that final statement, she left for the stairs back down to the archive. Kent smirked, he hoped that when she finally got back at Mansell he was there to see it. 


End file.
